Apostolos Apostolopoulos: A conflict between the US and Turkey is just a midsummer night’s dream

Even before Joe Biden formally takes office as President of the United States, the German Minister of Defense Karenbauer ran off at mouth unchecked! She said that Germany, in keeping with tradition, should always talk to Russia from a position of power. The Russians replied bluntly that Germany had said this before and that the whole world, and the Germans themselves, had paid dearly for it.

The Karenbauer statement is a clear introduction to a period of “hard rock” Washington-Berlin with the Kremlin, but also China. So Turkey will become more and more necessary as a spearhead against Moscow. Those who believe that Biden’s election ushers in favor of Greece and dislike of Turkey will again be disappointed. Some measures against Turkey may be taken by the US and the EU. But they will be to calm Ankara down, to keep it submissive and within their tolerance, and not to defend or favor Greece.

After all, Erdogan has long since formally abandoned the so-called balance between Moscow and Washington. Turkey is not and can no longer be the “evasive neutral”. Because Biden has already stated that his goal is to restore US dominance in East and West. So, as Bush used to say, “whoever is not with us is against us!” Imposition of harsh discipline on everyone, without exception for the Turks. Rumormongering about Biden’s mental illness does not make sense here, in the sad small-time Greek protectorate.

For Greece, Konstantinos Karamanlis’ statement “we belong to the West” is still absolutely valid! There would be an escape route if and when Biden’s claim to restore the United States to the position of the sole superpower fails miserably. But, it seems “those times are over” and nothing over the last decades can refute it. The second precondition for escape is to have competent political leadership and social readiness for the struggle for national independence. “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” in the here and now!

Erdogan is an American pawn

In the EU, they have painted a picture of Erdogan as a “sultan-conqueror” knocking down walls, dilly-dallying with the great powers, from the Kremlin and the White House to Merkel’s German Europe. The image is fake. Erdogan was and remains an organic member of the West and especially NATO. He was not, is not, and does not aspire to become a de Gaulle, not even a Konstantinos Karamanlis, who dared to take Greece out of the Atlantic Alliance.

His dispute with the United States is essentially limited to a single issue, the supply of a weapon system. The S-400 is certainly a modern and effective weapon, but there is no precedent for a single weapons system to overturn an overall strategic relationship between the two countries. The Americans say and repeat that Turkey must make every sacrifice to stay in the West, but we are playing “deaf” and feeding delusions!

Erdogan’s interventions in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh are all part of US interests, in the hope that they will cause problems for Russia, although in the end, Turkey will get just “chicken feed”. The Kremlin has offered “candies” from the beginning but keeps the “cake”, i.e. Syria, away from Turkey. Erdogan had set a goal for the dethronement of Assad, but he persevered and slowly drove the Turks – with the help of the Russians – from Idlib and all of northern Syria, in view of their eventual departure from the country. Turkey is forced to pick things up slowly with “egg on his face”.

Putin has let the Turkish “mule” as loose as it needs to think that it’s a “racehorse”! So Erdogan infuriates the US and divides NATO and the EU with no tangible gains anywhere. In the Middle East and the Caucasus, Russia is blocking it, and in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, the US and the EU are curbing it, unless Athens surrenders. Publicly and officially, Turkey cannot impose the unconditional negotiations that it insists on. Obviously, the US-EU is not interested in satisfying the sultan and imposing such negotiations on us.

Dendias is pushing for an arms embargo

If there are secret contacts and they come to an overall, unfavorable agreement, then the Greek government will be called to explain and society to judge. At first, there was an impression that Erdogan had set foot in the Caucasus, in Nagorno-Karabakh. In reality, however, Putin allowed Turkey to simply watch, without intervening in Russian settlements in the region. In Libya, Turkey is jockeying among many and more powerful players for a position. And finally, Macron recognizes the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, putting Turkey aside.

Erdogan’s immediate fear is sanctions. No government has fallen, nor has it succumbed to sanctions. But if Turkey is valuable in the confrontation with Russia, neither Germany nor the United States will exhaust it with severe sanctions. France will “water its wine” because it can not be against both Turkey and Russia. The aim of any sanctions will be to curb Erdogan. Finally, the threatening rumors came back that Turkey would attack us, just before Biden was sworn in, a scenario that does not stick.

Only a fool attacks a warned and ready opponent, as the Greek armed forces and the whole country are now. Now the Greek media are reporting Dendias-Mitsotakis disagreements. “Estia” in particular speaks of Dendias’ systematic pressure on the Germans, with American support, to impose an arms embargo on Turkey.

The very interesting article, very detailed and, logically accurate, sheds light on the policies of Germany and the USA and can be included in the context of the backstage intergovernmental dispute on the occasion of national issues. All this in the midst of holidays, infectious diseases, quarantine, and a sad Christmas. The devil finds work for idle hands to do, as the saying goes!